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MAY  2  a  J9(;9 


805  7-S 


93 


Ih 


€ 


an 


Xnjlitution  which  is 
fifty  Years  Old 


i865  ~i9i5 


The  Story 

of  an  Institution  Which  is 

Fifty  Years  Old 


■ifflLI 

1 

By  LOUIS  M.  TOBIN 


1865-I9I5 


o 


The    Story 


^  It  was  founded  by  B.  F.  Harris.  It  has  been 
^^  carried  on  by  his  descendants  upon  his  principles. 
It  has  become  more  than  a  bank — it  is  an  institution. 

That  is  what  I  would  say  if  I  had  to  write  the 
story  of  the  First  National  bank  of  Champaign  in  a 
single,  crisp  paragraph.  For  that 
is  the  story,  in  a  nutshell,  of  the 
First  National,  which  is  fifty 
years  old  on  January  30,  191 5, 
and  justly  proud  of  it.  It  tells 
better  than  any  other  way  just 
why  this  bank  can  look  back  upon 
half  a  century  of  service  to  the 
community  and  prosperity  to 
itself. 

The  story  of  the  First  National 
is  more  than  a  mere  chapter  of 
material  success.  You  can  never 
tell  it  at  all  by  a  matter-of-fact 
chronicle — when  it  was  estab- 
lished— what  buildings  it  has 
occupied  —  the  amount  of  its  deposits. 

When  I  was  little,  I  imagined  that  a  bank  was  a 
grim,  mysterious,  impersonal  machine — that  the 
men  I  saw  behind  the  railings  were  some  kind  of 
automatons — subordinated  to  the  brass  rails  and 
imposing  safes — that  there  was  nothing  human  at 
all  in  this  machinery  for  handling  money.  Today 
we  all  know  that   business,   banking  or  any  other 


B.  F.  HARRIS 
at  55 


branch  is  but  the  reflection  of  the  character  of  the 
men  behind  it — that  it  is  anything  but  impersonal. 

It  Is  a  Story  /IT  So  the  story  of  the  First  National  is  a  personal 
of  Men —  ^^  story  after  all — not  a  story  of  ponderous  vaults 

Not  of  Gold  and  sacks  of  gold — not  a  mere  story  of  age,  for  age  in 
itself  is  not  especially  significant  of  merit.  It  is  a 
personal  story,  because  the  bank  was  founded  by 
B.  F.  Harris.  A  son  and  a  grandson  have  followed 
him  as  its  head.  The  third  generation  of  his  family 
owns  it.  It  is  the  "Harris"  bank  in  fact.  For  fifty 
years  it  has  reflected  the  principles  and  character  of 
its  founder. 

I  have  said  that  the  bank  has  become  an  institu- 
tion. This  was  not  said  idly.  It  was  not  mere 
phrasing.  We  are  careless  these  days  with  that  word 
"institution."  In  our  easy  speech,  almost  any 
building  or  business  is  likely  to  be  termed  an  "insti- 
tution." When  I  said  that  the  First  National  had 
become  an  institution,  I  sought  some  term  expressive 
of  the  important  place  it  filled  in  the  community,  I 
meant  more  than  that  it  was  solidly,  firmly  estab- 
lished— I  meant  that  it  was  performing  important 
duties  for  its  community,  outside  of  the  routine 
transactions  over  its  counters. 

Today,  when  we  appraise  success,  we  ask  more 
than  a  record  of  personal  profit.  So  the  historian  of 
this  bank  which  is  so  proud  of  its  fifty  years  must 
inquire:  What  have  these  fifty  years  meant  to  the 
community  that  has  dealt  with  this  bank.?  What 
has  been  the  pubhc  spirit  of  this  bank.? 

To  answer  these  questions,  you  must  go  back  to 
the  beginning — to  another  Champaign,  the  Cham- 


paign  of  fifty  years  gone  —  the  Champaign  of  1865. 
It  was  hardly  more  than  a  frontier  hamlet.  Scarcely 
ten  years  had  passed  since  Mark  Carley  had  built 
the  first  dwelling.  The  population  was  1,400.  The 
day  of  the  pioneer  had  scarcely  passed. 

/IT   A  man  whose  name  was  already  written  large  oA 

^^  upon  the  history  of  the  young  county  —  he  was  Decision 

its  largest  land  owner  and  its  greatest  cattle  feeder,  ^„J  //.^ 

although   he  was   only  in   the   prime  of  life,   a   tall  q^^ 
sturdy,  straight-limbed  pioneer  —  decided  to  estab- 
lish a  bank.  " 

.His  name  was  B.  F.  Harris. 

His  career  had  already  been  a  wonderful  epic. 
He  had  left  his  father's  house  and  fared  forth  with- 
out resources — if  you  do  not  count  a  strong  will  and  /''^ 
indomitable  purpose.  He  had  pioneered  from  f  /#! 
Virginia  to  this  virgin  country  thirty 
years  before  to  become  one  of  the 
greatest  mdividual  factors  m  its 
development.  He  had  prospered 
beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice — the 
county  and  his  fellow  pioneers,  too, 
had  prospered  because  of  his  initi- 
ative, counsel  and  help. 

When  he  was  to  die,  years  afterwards,  rich  in 
years  and  honors,  they  would  call  him  the  oldest 
and  most  successful  cattle-feeder  in  the  world. 
(There's  an  old  scale  in  the  bank  today.  It  was 
used  to  weigh  100  head  of  cattle  that  he  had  fat- 
tened and  sold  in  Chicago.  Their  average  weight 
was  2,377  pounds  —  stockmen  have  never  been  able 
to    equal    the    record.)      The    state    into  which    he 


adventured  eighty  years  before  was  to  recognize  his 
service  to  the  commonwealth 
by  hanging  his  picture  in  its  Far- 
mers' Hall  of  Fame. 

So  this  was  the  man  who  de- 
cided to  establish  a  bank. 

The  decision  in  itself  was  not 
remarkable.     Almost  anyone  in 
that  young  community  who  desired  could  call  him- 
self a  banker  and  open  a  bank. 

The  importance  of  the  decision  rested  in  the 
character  of  the  man  who  made  it — and  in  the  kind 
of  bank  that  he  decided  to  establish. 


The  Days  /7T    Banking  in  Champaign  in  1865  was  a  precarious 
of  "Wild-  ^^  business — for  banker  and  depositor  alike.    Those 
cat"  were  the  days  of  "wildcat"  currency,  issued  at  the 
Currency   ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  banker,  curtailed  only  by  his  credit  at 
the  printer's.     In  fact,  banking  was   a  speculative 
industry.     The  banker  took  chances  —  his  cus- 
tomers took  more. 

The  farmer  who  wrestled  with  the  hardships 
of  pioneer  life — the  merchant  who  supplied  his 
wants — encountered  not  only  exorbitant  interest 
rates — especially  if  necessity  was  dire — but  also  faced 
constantly  the  prospect  of  bank  failures.  There  was 
hardly  a  limit  to  the  fees  that  were  exacted  from  bor- 
rowers. The  legal  interest  rate  of  10  per  cent  may 
seem  formidable  when  you  look  back  at  it — there  were 
few  who  contented  themselves  with  that.  The  real 
interest  rates  ranged  from  2  to  ^  per  cent  a  month. 


(TT    If  you  had  lived  in  Champaign  County  in  1861,    When 
^^  more  than  hkely  you  would  have  worn  a  long  face   Long  Faces 
one  morning  when  you  found  the  doors  of  the  Grand    ^^re 
Prairie  Bank  in  Urbana  and  the  "Cattle"  Bank,  its    j/f/^j.^ 
Champaign  branch,  closed.     They  had  gone  down 
in   the  general   collapse  of  the  stock  security 
banks  of  Ilhnois.      It  was  a  hard  blow  to  the    ^y 
struggling  community. 

Another  bank  was  opened  in  Champaign  in 
1862,  but  it  was  operated  on  much  the  same  old 
lines;  some  years  later  it  was  to  suffer  the  fate 
of  Its  predecessors.  People  were  afraid  of  banks. 
The  growmg  town  and  county  were  severely 
hampered  by  the  lack  of  a  responsible,  conser- 
vative institution. 

B.  F.  Harris  was  not  satisfied.  A  man  of 
large  interests,  he  wanted  a  bank  where  his  own  money 
would  be  safely  administered.  A  man  whose  career 
had  been  marked  by  deeds  for  the  general  good,  he 
wanted  a  bank  where  the  money  of  the  people  would 
be  free  from  hazard.  He  knew  that  there  must  be 
another  kmd  of  bankmg  from  the  current  system. 
He  knew  that  if  another  man  gave  him  funds  to 
guard,  that  he  guarded  them.  He  constantly  cared 
for  money  that  people  were  afraid  to  entrust  to  the 
banks  of  the  day. 

And  men  living  here  today  will  tell  you  that 
above  everything  else  this  pioneer  abhorred  the  gen- 
eral custom  of  exacting  as  large  an  mterest  fee  as 
could  be  secured  from  the  needy  borrower.  Had 
B.  F.  Harris  done  so,  there  would  have  been  no 
criticism.  It  was  an  accepted  custom.  But  when 
he  loaned  his  own  money,  these  men  will  tell  you,  he 


accepted  the  legal  rate  of  interest  —  nothing  more. 

I  have  heard  this  from  their  own  lips.  I  have  read 
eulogies  of  this  pioneer.  But  this  glimpse  of  his  char- 
acter has  been  more  impressive  than  all  I  have  read. 

A  man  who  felt  that  money  entrusted  to  him  was 
sacred — that  it  was  practically  dishonest  to  extort 
usurious  interest — was  to  establish  a  bank. 

It  was  a  matter  of  course  that  the  bank  he 
established  would  reflect  his  opinions.  So  that  is 
why  the  decision  was  of  such  importance. 

The  Dawn  /^  Congress  had  finally  recognized  the  need  of  bet- 
Mi^  ter  banking.     A  National  Banking  Act  had  just 


"Banks 


of  National  ^^  ^^^  oauKing.  i\  iNaiiujiai  uaiiKuig  /^lc  nau  jusr 
cR^^lc  been  passed  creating  national  banks — under  laws  and 
regulations  practically  unchanged  today.  In  fact 
the  revision  of  the  currency  system  last  year  was 
practically  the  first  change  the  Government  had 
made  in  the  law  since  that  time. 

But  the  opportunity  to  secure  a  national  bank 
charter  did  not  appeal  to  the  bankers  of  the  county. 
It  meant  that  there  would  be  stipulations  regarding 
reserves — that  national  banks  would  be  investigated 
bv  bank  examiners. 

The  law  did  appeal  to  B.  F.  Harris.  It  was  the 
kind  of  bank  he  wanted  for  his  own  money  and  for 
the  people's  money.  He  called  together  the  men  of 
the  community  he  considered  most 
likely  to  be  interested.  A  charter 
was  secured  from  the  United  States 
on  January  30,  1865.  It  was  signed 
by  a  man  who  counted  B.  F.  Harris 
as  a  friend  —  "A.  Lincoln." 

It  was  numbered  913  ! 


Qj    Main  Street  was  the  mart  of  the  young  town. 

^^  Teams  were  hitched  m  front  of  the  unpretentious 

store  buildings,  mostly  frame.    Men  with 

tall  hats  and    long  coats    stood  on  the 

sidewalks  and  discussed  the  topics  of  the 

day — which  mainly  dealt  with  the  great 

Civil  War,  then  in  its  final  year.      So  it 

was  on  Main  Street  that  the  new  bank 

was  located — in  a  frame  building  on  the 

site  of  the  Kuhn  building,  now  occupied 

by  Metzler  and  Schafer,  grocers. 

A  big" cannon  "stove  defied  the  corn- 
belt  winter.  Around  it  often  grouped 
the  men  of  Champaign.  A  small  safe,  in- 
nocent of  "combinations" — they  opened 
and  locked  it  with  a  key — was  the  most 
important  accessory. 


n\    You  can  see  this  safe  today.     At  one  end  of  the    ^^r)ere  the 

banking  room  of  the  First  National  it  stands  hum-   Old  Safe 
bly — as  if  conscious  that  it  fits  oddlywith  its  surround-  Stands 
ings  of  marble — as  if  conscious  of  the  massive  mod-    Today 
ern  vault  which  overlooks  it  from  the  other  end  of 
the  room.     It  spans  that  half  century  for  you — here 
is  this  wonderful  banking-room,  there  is  a  memento 
of  its  small  beginning.      I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
grandsons  of  B.  F.  Harris  from  their  desk  across  the 
room  look  at  it  with  more  than  pride — that,  humble 
as  it  is,  it   is  a  silent   reminder  of  their  heritage  of 
service. 

It  was  not  the  intention  of  B.  F.  Harris  to  be  the 
active  head  of  the  new  bank.  His  interest  had  been 
to  see  a  safe  institution  established.     He  was  con- 


tent  to  have  another — Harry  Thomas — serve  as 
president.  But  in  a  year  he  took  over  the  presi- 
dency. 

Some  stockholders  irked  under  the  restrictions 
of  the  National  Banking  Act.  They  pointed  out 
that  private  banks  were  making  much  more  profit. 
The  First  National  was  held  to  the  legal  rate  of 
interest — lo  per  cent.  Here  the  private  banks 
secured  from  12  to  16  per  cent,  besides  a  heavy  com- 
mission. And  the  Government  was  too  "nosy." 
Any  day  an  uncommunicative,  unsympathetic  bank 
examiner  with  a  penchant  for  examining  notes  and 
asking  questions,  might  come  in  and  interfere  with 
profit-making  plans! 


(IT   B.  F.  Harris  set  his  foot  down  flat,      ine  Dan 


IVhen 

a  Pioneer   ^^  was  to  keep  on  its  sober  path 
Set  Down  only  the  legal  rate  of  interest.    It 

His  Foot  ^^^  ^^  eRvn  only  reasonable  div- 
idends to  its  stockholders.  It 
was  to  go  along  slowly  and  surely. 
It  was  to  serve  the  community — 
not  to  speculate  on  its  funds  or 
exact  a  heavy  profit  from  its 
necessities. 

That  was  to  be  the  policy  of 
the  First  National. 

The  disgruntled  stockholders 
parted  company.  B.  F.  Harris 
took  over  the  presidency.  They 
helped  organize  or  drifted  into 
competing  private  banks.  With- 
in three  years  there  were  three 

10 


The  bank 
It  was  to  charge 


The  First  Home  of  the  Bank 
1865 


private  banks  competing  with  the  First  National. 
You  read  in  Judge  J.  O.  Cunningham's  history  of 
Champaign  County  that  the  First  National  "came 
to  the  front  as  the  first  financial  institution  of  the 
county." 


^TT  On  the  musty,  faded  ledgers  of  the  bank  in  1865, 
^^  1866, 1867  and  1868,  you  can  pick  out  names  that 
are  familiar  today — such  as  those  of  Henry  Swan- 
nell,  Joseph  Kuhn,  G.  W.  Kennard,  Frank  Wilcox, 
Dan  Morrissey,  William  L.  Branch  George  F.  Rising 
and  James  A.  Hossack — all  alive  and  still  customers 
of  the  First  National.  And  there  is  a 
great  list  of  names  that  are  familiar  still 
— of  men  who  helped  to  make  Cham- 
paign and  Champaign  County — who 
have  passed  to  the  Great  Beyond.  (For 
there  is  scarcely  a 
family  that  has  lived 
here  more  than  a  generation  but 
has  helped  the  First  National  or 
has  been  helped  by  it.) 


By  1872  the  bank  was  moving 
into  a  new  building  of  its  own, 
on  its  present  site,  so  well  was 
the  policy  of  honest  profit  and 
service  paying.  And  Time,  the 
great  adjuster,  soon  demon- 
strated that  the  theory  of  the 
other  banking  school  was  wrong 
—  the  three  private  banks  in- 
gloriously  passed  out  of  exist- 
ence. 


Customers 
of  Fifty 
Years  Ago 
Still 
Customers 


The  Second  Home 
1872 


The  Founder,  B.  F.  HARRIS 
i8i 1-1905 


The  Late  H.  H.  HARRIS 
1844— 1914 


The  Little  ^1T  So  you  see  whatsit  was  founded  by  B.  F.  Harris" 
Safe  Is   ^^  means  in  the  story  of  this  bank,  which  is  fifty 

Outgrown  years  old.  He  had  put  it  in  the  right  path.  While  he 
was  to  live  to  ripe  years,  it  rested  with  others  to  carry 
out  the  principles  he  had  insisted  on  in  its  early 
years — to  expand  them  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
progressing  community.  The  humble  key-lock  safe 
was  outgrown.  The  deposits  had  advanced  from 
^7,359.65  on  the  opening  day  in  1865  to  $114,022.62 
on  January  i,  1875.  The  bank  had  been  true  to  its 
principles  in  its  early  years.  Now  came  another 
to  decide  its  policy. 

So  the  story  of  the  First  National  becomes  again 
a  personal  one.  Henry  H.  Harris,  son  of  B.  F.  Har- 
ris, for  forty  years  was  to  be  in  active  charge  of  the 
institution.  Until  B.  F.  Harris  died  in  1905  he  was 
to  be  the  nominal  president — presiding  always  at 
the  meeting  of  the  directors,  a  kindly,  stately  figure 
of  a  man — although  for  decades  his  son  had  been  the 
active  head  of  the  bank. 

The  Day  ^  Henry  H.  Harris  had  been  born  in  1844  in  the  log 

of  the   ^^  cabin  on  the  Sangamon  River  where  his  father 

Second  had  first  settled.     If  the  father  was  to  establish  the 

Generation  character  and  principles  of  the  bank,  it  was  the  task 

of  the  son  to  apply  them  and  broaden  them  for  forty 

years.    Henry  H.  Harris  was  to  follow  in  his  father's 

footsteps  as  a  farmer  and  a  cattle  feeder — the  bankers 

of  the  state  were  to  honor  him  in  1898  by  selecting 

him  president  of  the  Illinois  Bankers  Association. 

The  Harris  policy  came  to  mean  that  a  bank  was 
to  be  conducted  on  a  theory  that  it  had  a  public 
service  to  perform.     That  the  best  personal  service 

14 


was  based  on  "safety  first,"  even  if  that  expression 
was  yet  to  be  invented.  That  it  was  well  to  put 
stress  on  the  character,  rather  than  the  wealth  of 
the  prospective  borrower.  (Today  the  bank  ad- 
vertises, "Your  money  when  you  want  it;  our  money 
when  you  need  it,"  which  is  more  than  an  adver- 
tising phrase — it  is  carried  out.) 

You  can  construct  for  yourself  the  story  of  the 
progress  of  the  bank,  if  I  give  you  the  frame  work — a 
few  instances  of  the  application  of  its  policy — scat- 
tered through  the  years. 


(TT  In  1873 — when  the  great  panic  came — when  all    cA  Bank 
^^  other  banks  in  this  locality  had  closed  their  doors.    That  Merer 
fearful    that    a   "run"   might    be  precipitated  with    Shut 
disastrous  results,  the  young  Henry  H.  Harris  had 
refused    to    close.     He    knew    that    a    bank    which 
wouldn't  give  you  your  money,  when  you  wanted  it 
and  needed  it,  wasn't  doing  its  public  duty. 

And  the  older  Henry  H.  Harris  knew  that  in 
1907 — during  that  brief  financial  flurry  when  the 
"clearing-house  certificate"  was  born.  The  First 
National  stood  like  a  rock,  refusing  to  use  the 
certificates  or  drafts,  paying  cash  on  demand,  and 
loaning  to  its  regular  customers  at  its  invariable  rate 
of  6  per  cent. 

Never  has  the  First  National  failed  to  meet  all 
obligations  in  cash  on  demand.  That's  a  pretty  big 
thing  to  say  for  fifty  years.  The  First  National  can 
say  it  truthfully. 

15 


IVhen  a  ^TT    Bonds  are  not  all   that  bankers  like  to  hoard. 
University   ^^  They  have  a  little  letter  in  the  archives  of  the 
JVas  in   First  National.     This   is   the   way   its  fading  tvpe- 
IVant  writing  reads: 


5ECRET«RV  S  OFflCE 


JNIVERSITV   OF    ILLINOIS 


UHB»N«.  ILL       June     14,      18  97 


First     National    Sank, 

C  ba  icpa  Ig  c  ,     111., 
Senile  me  0  • 

The    Board    of    Trostces     of     the    Dnlirersliy 
of     Illinois,    feeling     very    graiefol     to    you    r or     t be    asslst- 
anse     rendered     the     Onlverslty    during     lis     receni     financial 
tronble,     hereby    lenders     lis     sincere     ibanks     for     yoor 
klodoess     to    tbia    regard. 

Very     respectfully     yours, 


-ATLA 


Seer  alary. 


To  learn  why  the  trustees  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  had  been  grateful,  you  must  go  back  to  the 
failure  of  the  Globe  bank  of  Treasurer  Spalding  of 

i6 


the  university.  The  university  was  sorely  distressed 
by  the  crash.  Ready  money  was  necessary,  no 
state  officials  would  advance  it. 
It  was  surmised  that  the  state 
would  eventually  come  to  the  res- 
cue— but  that  meant  waiting  for  a 
legislature  to  convene.  Meanwhile 
there  were  salaries  to  be  paid  — 
bills  to  be  met. 

"  Issue  your  warrants  as  usual.  Send  them  to  the 
First  National.  We  will  cash  them  freely,  without 
discount,  and  hold  them  until  there  are  funds  to  pay 
them." 

This,  in  effect,  had  been  the  message  that  Henry 
H.  Harris  had  sent  to  the  trustees.  They  had  ac- 
cepted the  offer.  The  First  National  cashed  thou- 
sands of  dollars  worth  of  warrants.  It  was  adhering 
to  its  tradition  of  the  duty  of  an  institution. 

Today  the  solitary,  tangible  recompense  is  this 
little  letter.  But  this  memento  has  sufficed.  The 
deed  must  have  been  its  own  reward,  for  they  have 
kept  that  little  letter  in  those  musty  files  all  these 
vears. 


/IT   The  Harris'  have  always  been  practical  farmers.   The 
^^  The  bank,  as  a  matter  of  course,  long  ago  recog-  Summer 
nized  the  importance  to  the  community  of  good  agri-  That  the 
culture.     It  has  always  cooperated  with  the  farmer,  jf^^j^ 
Its  officers  could  talk  intelligently  with  him   about  Q^YneNot 
his    problems — whether    of    financing    or    farming. 
They  showed  their  faith  in  the  future  of  county  land 
long    ago    by    acquiring    many    acres.     Today    the 

17 


First  National  is  naturally  and  logically  the  bank  of 
the  Champaign  County  farmer. 

There  came  a  drought  in  191 3.  A  pitiless  sun 
withered  and  scorched  the  erstwhile  fruitful  fields. 
Country  and  city  alike  felt  the  blow.  It  meant  a 
shortage  of  money,  so  money  tightened  up.  The 
farmer  who  wanted  a  loan  was  lucky  if  he  secured 
the  concession  even  at  7  per  cent. 

B.  F.  Harris,  then  vice-president  of  the  bank,  knew 
that  the  set-back  was  only  temporary.  He  issued  a 
circular  letter  to  the  farmers.  Its  tenor  was  "cheer 
up."  He  gave  some  authentic  advice  on  conserving 
moisture  thereafter.  But  he  did  not  content  him- 
self with  generalities.     The  farmers  needed  cash. 

"We  have  so  managed  our  affairs,  that  despite 
the  drought,  we  are  loaning  and  will  loan  at  the  same 
6  per  cent  rate  we  have  loaned  for  years.  There  is 
no  better  borrower  than  a  good  farmer.  We  are  glad 
to  cooperate  with  him." 

That  was  the  meat  in  the  circular. 

When  the  rural  carrier  left  that  message,  many 
a  farm  home  was  brightened.  Hundreds  of  farmers 
were  tided  over.  I  will  not  say  that  it  was  not  good 
business  for  the  bank.  It  was.  But  the  big  thing 
was  that  the  bank  knew  it.  It  might  have  held 
onto  that  money.  It  had  a  good  excuse.  It  might 
have  asked  7  per  cent  interest — and  got  it.  It  had 
a  good  excuse.  But  it  realized  that  it  was  an  institu- 
tion— ^that  here  was  a  time  of  stress  for  the  people. 
Their  prosperity  must  be  mutual.  It  had  the 
vision  to  help — and  only  at  a  fair  profit. 

18 


/tT    So  the  Harris'  have  the  right  to  call  the  First  for  This 
^^  National  the  "6  per  cent  bank."    It  has  been  the   ^/ as  the 
"6  per  cent"  bank  not  only  in  fair  weather  but  in  ^  p^y  cent 
bad.     That's  a  pretty  important  thing  for  a  borrower  c^^l 
to  remember. 

In  a  way  I  have  jumped  ahead  of  my  story.  I 
left  the  bank  in  a  building  it  had  moved  into  in  1872. 
It  was  constructed  of  stone  and  brick  and  was  solid 
and  substantial.  About  1900  this  building  was 
remodeled.  But  by  1910  the  bank's  business  had 
assumed  such  proportions  that  the  building  was  torn 
down.  It  was  replaced  by  the  present  magnificent 
building,  five  stories — in  type  and  character  of  con- 
struction and  architectural  design  unsurpassed  m  the 
state. 


<l 


anniversary. 


Henry  H.  Harris,  strong  son  of  a  strong  father,   The  Day 
did  not  live  to  see  the  bank  celebrate  its  golden   of  the 
His  forty  years  of  active  service  ended    Third 

suddenly  last  summer  at  the  full   Generation 
zenith    01    seventy    years.      1  he 
third  generation  took  the  reins. 
Another    B.    F.    Harris    became 
president. 

B.  F.  Harris  and  Newton  M. 
Harris,  sons  of  Henry  H.  Harris, 
had  long  been  closely  connected 
with  the  progress  of  the  institu- 
tion. They,  too,  had  applied 
themselves  to  farming  and  cattle 
feeding.  They  had  other  large 
interests.  B.  F.  Harris,  the  older 
brother,  had  served  as  president 
of  the  Illinois  Bankers  Associa- 

19 


B.  F.  HARRIS 
President 


tion  in  191 1  and  1912,  and  had  been  one  of  the 
factors  in  committing  it  to  a  working  interest  in 
agriculture.  He  is  today  the  chairman  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Commission  of  the  American  Bankers  Asso- 
ciation. Newton  M.  Harris  is  the  vice-president. 
Over  the  heads  of  the  brothers  at  their  desk  hangs 
a  portrait  of  their  sturdy  grandfather. 

And  across  the  room  there  is  that  kev-lock  safe! 


An 

Atmosphere 

of  Business 


/TT  There  is  an  atmosphere  of  efficiency  about  this 
^^  bank  today.  The  men  who  run  it  are  men  of  big 
interests  as  has  been  said — men  of  large  measures — 
of  broad  minds — they  are  able  to  think  big.  They 
are  more  than  bankers.  The  Harris' 
have  made  successes  in  other  under- 
takings, for  they  have  diversified  in- 
terests. This  knowledge  gained  by 
handling  their  own  varied  holdings 
has  been  profitable  to  customers  of 
the  bank  who  come  for  counsel. 


N.  M. 
Vice 


When  People 

Come  to 

Counsel 


For  the  First  National  is  a  clear- 
ing-house of  financial  and  business 
advice.  Men  of  big  affairs — and  men 
of  lesser  interests — bring  their  prob- 
lems. Advice  has  been  extended  to 
the  merchant  who  wants  to  expand — 
to  the  school-teacher  who  wants  to 
buy  a  small-sized  bond  with  her 
savings. 

/TT  Hazen  S.  Capron  is  the  cashier,  following  the  long 
^^  service  of  the  late  G.  A.  Turell.  I  have  often  sur- 
veyed with  interest  the  long  line  that  daily  waits  to 
talk  with  Capron.      I  have  seen  the  biggest  men  of 


HARRIS 
President 


the  local  business  world  in  conference  over  his  coun- 
ter, followed  by  a  young  woman  who  has  just  come 
from  the  savmgs  department  window.     She  has  evi- 
dently drawn  her  savings,  which  have 
apparently  assumed  some   little   pro- 
portion, for  she  wants  to  know  where 
to  put  them  where  they  will  produce 
more  interest — and  be  safe. 

Capron  is  a  man  of  crisp  sentences. 
When  he  opens  his  mouth  he  says 
something.  He  is  the  financial  father- 
confessor  of  thousands  of  people.  He 
performs  his  varied  duties  with  a 
minimum  of  what,  for  want  of  a  better 
word,  you  might  call  "bunk."  An 
old-time  cashier,  even  if  he  loaned  you 
the  money  you  were  entitled  to,  would 
have  considered  himself  failing  men- 
tally if  he  failed  to  make  a  little  speech  conveying 
the  idea  that  the  bank  was  doing  you  a  great  favor. 


H.  S.  CAPRON 

Cashier 


/TT  The  other  day  a  business  man  told  me  a  little    A  Story 
^^ story  typical  of  this  bank.     He   had  borrowed    From 
money,  paid  the  interest,  and  was  now  liquidating  the    Real  Life 
loan.     He  was  grateful.     "I  want  to  thank  you  a 
thousand  times,"  he  said.     "We're  not  entitled  to 
thanks,"  said  Capron.    "You  were  a  good  man  to  loan 
to;  you  have  assets   and  character.     We  need  your 
business.     You  paid  us.     This  bank  is  just  as  glad 
to  have  your  business  as  you  are  to  give  it." 

That  would  make  an  old-time  cashier — used  to 
palaver  and  expecting  a  kowtow — turn  over  in  his 
grave!     But  the  First  National  knows  that  loaning 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  FIRST  NATIONAL  TODAY 


22 


money  is  its  business,  just  as  selling  sugar  is  the 
grocer's.  It  does  not  see  why  it  should  do  its  bus- 
iness patronizingly. 

Cass  Clifford  has  come  back  from 
being  assistant  state  treasurer  at 
Springfield  for  two  years  to  be  assist- 
ant cashier  of  the  bank  with  which  he  , 
has  been  identified  for  many  years. 
A  young  man  of  unusual  judgment, 
he  will  be  of  great  service  to  its 
clientele. 

^TT  Today  the  First  National  is  by 

^^  long  odds  the  largest  bank  in  the 

county,  both  in  its  commercial  and  its 

savings    departments.     I    had    heard 

that  people  with  a  little  nest-egg  to  ^' AsS' Cashie?^'^ 

deposit    were    sometimes    afraid     to 

"bother"  a  big  bank  with  it.     So  I  asked  President 

Harris. 

"That  is  a  wrong  idea,"  he  said.  "No  matter 
how  big  a  bank  grows,  it  wants  even  the  smallest 
accounts.  We  have  big  accounts  and  hundreds  of 
little  ones,  too.  We  give  the  small  account  the  same 
attention  as  the  big  one.  We  figure  each  small 
account  is  potentially  a  large  one." 

And  the  big  bank  is  the  best  bank  for  the  small 
fellow — for  the  small  fellow  can't  afford  to  take 
chances — it  is  the  one  that  is  most  likely  to  be  able  to 
serve  him,  out  of  its  larger  resources,  just  when  he 
needs  service  the  most.  The  First  National  people, 
in  their  advertisements,  continually  lay  stress  on  a 
factor  they  consider  the  greatest  in  making  loans. 

23 


They  say  that  the  best  collateral  is  character, 
even  the  little  fellow  can  have  that! 


And 


The  Story  (H    What  are  the  deposits  of  this  oldest  and  largest 
Yfj'at  ^^    bank  in  Champaign  County?     Go  back  to  the 
Deposits    time  of  the  key-lock  safe  and  span  the  half  century  by 
Tell    decades.     We  must  list  the  deposits  on  the  same  day 
every  tenth  year — it  wouldn't  be  accurate  to  pick 
one  day  one  year  and  another  day  next  time.     We 
must  start  on  January  30,  1865,  the  first  day  it  was 
open,  but  thereafter  the  first  of  the  year  is  the  ap- 
propriate date  for  investigation. 

Jan.  30,  1865 ^7.359-65 

Jan.  2,  1875 ^114,022.62 

Jan.  2,  1885 ^248,437.37 

Jan.  2,  1895 ^60,875. 23 

Jan.  2,  1905 ^^831,399.54 

Jan.  2,  1915 $1,626,274.38 

What  of  (7T  So  this  is  the  story  of  the  bank  which  became  an 
the  Future?  ^^  institution — which  looks  back  with  just  pride  on 
its  fifty  years  of  service  to  the  community  and  prosper- 
ity to  itself.  If  we  can  tell  the  future  by  reading  the 
history  of  the  past,  the  story  of  the  next  fifty  years 
will  be  the  same.     Men  will  come  and  go. 

But  the  little  key-lock  safe  will  stand  sentinel. 


